Fall is Back and 2009 Contra’ Soarda Vespaiolo Veneto Italy

Fall is back!

September is usually the month were everything re-start after a bit more than 2 months of terribly slow business. Generally, each year, just after June 15th, when school is finished (or just about depending on the school and the state), and children and students go on vacation, New York suddenly feels empty and sales drop dramatically.

Parents usually also take their vacation at that moment too, therefore the big apple become a hive for tourists from around the world. Unfortunately for us, wine & spirits retailers, when the local crowd is gone, tourists rarely come and visit us. They more often drink beer during the day and wine in restaurants at night. Rare are the few ones who come to buy their alcoholic beverage in stores.

However, September always brings a renaissance to the sales and thus we are back in business; and it goes crescendo until the 1st of January. These 4 months are the best months for all wine & spirits retailers in general, they habitually represent about 2 third of the annual revenue.

All of us, wine buyers, are eager to once again restock the shelves to full capacity with handfuls of gems and new vintage freshly arrived in the market. It is time to find the right strategy to buy intelligently most of the wines and spirits that we will sell up until the end of the year and the beginning of the year after.

Rosé, light red and refreshing white season is slowly going into a dormant faze, so it is time to find slightly heavier and substantial red and white wines to accommodate the Fall-Winter season dishes. It is also time to preorder the Beaujolais Nouveau and the bubblies for the up-and-coming festivities.

Therefore, September and October become the open season for wine treasures hunt. The city offers at least 2 to 3 portfolio tastings a day without mentioning all the lunches and dinners (I’m not surprised knowing that over the past 8 years I’ve been working at least with more 250 different importing/distributing company. Most of these specific tastings are for the trade, but they are plenty more open to the public. For more info, go to www.localwineevents.com).

Consequently, I started to go to certain tastings (can’t do them all, even if I wanted to…) and begin to ponder my wish lists for wines that will arrive gradually at the store over the next two months.

One of these wines is a Vespaiolo from a winery called Contra’ Soarda, a great white from the Veneto region imported/distributed by Jan d’Amore, a great Italian guy with a small portfolio, full of gems at great prices, which is worth keeping an eye on.

2009 Contra’ Soarda Vespaiolo Veneto Italy

Thought many times over since 1999, fully developed during 2001 and finally established in 2002 by Mirco and Gloria Gottardi, Contra’ Soarda is a modern, small family run estate, which possesses about 12 hectares of vines that lie in the picturesque village of San Michele, located in the alp’s foothills about 5 kilometers of Bassano del Grappa (about 86 kilometers north-west of Venezia, Veneto).

Rich of skills, knowledge and traditions passed on from father to son for nearly a century in the Gottardi family, Mirco and Gloria Gottardi created the new project of “Contra’ Soarda” with the desire to create a deeper tie to their native land. Meaning literally “hamlet on the slope”, the winery grows vines and olive trees with the utmost respect for the environment of this mountainous area, which sits at the mouth of the Valsugana. The Valsugana valley is one of the most important valleys in the autonomous province of Trento (also called Trentino) of Northern Italy. The valley borders the northern part of the Veneto region with its imposing mountains, which provide strong temperature changes between night and day.

The vines are densely planted to insure naturally low yields. The cellar, built inside the hill to minimize any environmental impact, is an architectural wonder and recipient of many prizes. The only use natural and biologic techniques. The soil of stony volcanic composition brings a lot of depth and complexity to resulting but more importantly confers a lot of minerality. Focusing on the often-overlooked native grape, Vespaiolo, but not neglecting the varietals that have been planted in his region for centuries, like Marzemino. Mirco produces wines that are pure, elegant and harmonious.

The production which first started in 2004 is 75.000 bottles and four of their wines are available thru Jan d’Amore: 2009 Vespaiolo, Vespaiolo “vignasilan”, 2006 Torcolato Riserva, 2007 Marzemino “Gaggion”. And I tasted them all and love them all, although the 2009 Vespaiolo was my favorite of the bunch and after re-tasting of days ago, I can already tell you that it will surely be one of my favorite white of this coming Autumn.



2009 Contra’ Soarda Vespaiolo Veneto Italy
Suggested retail price $19-$22
Imported / Distributed by Jan d'Amore in NYC

Vespaiolo is a white grape variety planted primarily in the Veneto region. The grapes ripen to high sugar levels and are used to produce off dry and sweet wines with a characteristic golden hue. The name Vespaiola comes from “Vespa” and refers to the wasps that are attracted to the vines.

Made from 100% Vespaiolo vinified in 100% Stainless steel tanks, the 2009 vintage is such an inviting white. In the glass, it offers a pale straw yellow color with golden reflects and hints of green. The distinctive and perfumy nose boasts a medley of yellow stone fruit with aromas of white peach and apple intermingled with mineral and floral notes. The ripe 2009 vintage brought some opulence to this wine. The palate is fairly soft and rounded, clean and refreshing with lovely balance, great structure and depth. With flavors similar as the ones from the nose, the juicy mid-palate is complex and expanding with coating minerality and enhancing acidity towards the lingering finish. Overall, it is an excellent wine that I highly recommend. It has opened my Fall-Winter wine-buying season on a high quality note.

If I found the time, I will try soon to write another post following this one about the other 3 wines that I tasted from Contra’ Soarda but also on quite a few of the other wines that I have been trying over the last few days.

Enjoy!

LeDom du Vin

Info partly taken and edited from the importer website at www.jandamorewines.com and from the winery website at www.contrasoarda.it

Step into the Green! Drink more Biodynamic, Biologique and Organic wines (and spirits and food) from sustainable culture and respect the environment! Support the right causes for the Planet and all the people suffering all around the globe! Also follow projects and products from the Fair Trade, an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries obtain better trading conditions and promote sustainability. Also support 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses that donate at least 1% of their annual revenues to environmental organizations worldwide.

2007 Marcato “Barattaro” Noir Veneto Central Northern Italy

Marcato “Barattaro” Noir Veneto Central Northern Italy

Following a previous article that I wrote about Marcato, here is another wine from this Veneto winery that I would like to introduce to you.

Azienda Agricola Marcato is an old family run winery located near the village of Roncà, about 35 kilometers east of Verona, in the alpine foothills of the Verona province of Veneto. With great west-south exposure, the winery has vineyards located on both the flat land of the Alpone valley and the sloppy Berici hills.

The history of the winery started a bit more than 110 years ago, when Francesco Marcato bought the first 3 hectares of vines near Roncá. The family first started has vine grower, selling their grapes to the local cooperative, like many other at that time. After a few years, they expanded the vineyard, the family grew and the marriage of the son Giuseppe started a new generation of grape growers and winemakers.

By 1969, the first bottled of Soave and Recioto di Soave were bottled and sold. Marcato estate expanded even more with the constant addition of new vineyards up until 1991, when they bought a new land in the Berici hills where the family now produces most of their premium red wines made with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Tocai Rosso.

In this area between the towns of Vicenza and Verona, Marcato now owns about 60 hectares (150 acres), of which 50 hectares (125 acres) are planted with vineyards. It also buys grapes from another 25 hectares (62,5 acres) of vineyards belonging to selected local grape growers.

In total, the yearly yield is around 600 tons of grapes from the various DOC areas of: Soave Colli Scaligeri, Soave Classico, Monti Lessini Durello and Colli Berici for a production of 4000 hectoliters of wine. Garganega, Trebbiano di Soave, Durella, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are grown in the vineyards around the villages of Roncà, Montecchia di Crosara, Monteforte d’Alpone and Soave. The red grapes Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Tocai Rosso are grown on the Hills of Sarego and Grancona in the Berici Hills.

The vinification is sited around the hill west of Roncà, on the Via Prandi, where the company has the vinery, which covers a total surface of 7.000 squared meters (0.7 hectares or 1.7 acres). The estate is divided in the various departments including the crusher, the drier room “Appassitoio”, the fermentation room for the red and white wines, and the production of the sparkling wines both with Charmat Method and Champenoise Method in the caves of the winery. It also encompasses the barrels room, the bottling line hall and a conditioned warehouse for storage.

Having full control of the production of all of their wines at the same place offers the winery to maintain high quality and great consistency one vintage after another. The difference of vineyard’s soil types and microclimate only comforts their aptitude to produce very eclectic complex wines.

Like for many other wine regions around the world, a visit to Veneto’s vineyard is the only way to fully understand the symbiosis between each natural element (exposure, soils, microclimate, rainfall, altitude, percentage of the slope, natural drainage, etc…) and how, when combined with each other, they can result such interesting wines.



2007 Marcato “Barattaro” Noir Veneto central northern Italy
Suggested retail price $16-$19
Imported/Distributed by Noble House Wines in NYC

Product only during the best vintages, when the sun and weather are temperate, with climatic conditions not too humid, Marcatto Barattaro Noir is made from 100% Pinot Noir grown in the Alpone valley and sold under Veneto IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica). It was crafted at the Barattaro estate, hence the name. It was first fermented in stainless steel tanks, before spending about 9 months in new French oak and then 16 months in large 4,000 liters Moldavian oak casks. The previous vintage was 2004.

An elegant and fresh 100% Pinot Noir from the Barattaro estate in Veneto, this approachable medium-to-light bodied red offers fruity red cherry aromas with a touch of oak, great acidity and earthy terroir-driven fruit flavors. Aged in both French and Moldavian oak, it boasts clean red berry flavors exploding on the mid-palate, supported by silky tannins and nice acidity lingering into the crisp cherry finish. A versatile pairing wine that works well with everything from chicken to lighter meats to creamy cheeses.

Overall, an intriguing wine that grew in me on a more positive way after a bit of opening and was even better the second day. The reason is that, surprisingly enough, I felt a light fizzy sensation when I first opened it. I left my glass aside for a few minutes and still felt the strange sensation when I tried another sip of it. I though to myself that may be it was one of those wines that deserve a few minutes in the fridge due to its acidity and slight fizzy attitude. I drank another glass of it and left the rest of the bottle for the next day. To my surprise, I found it better the next day. Obviously, the fizz was gone and it was more rounded on the edges, offering a silkier palate and a more pleasant experience overall.

Enjoy!

LeDom du Vin

Info partly taken and edited from the winery website at www.marcatovini.it

Step into the Green! Drink more Biodynamic, Biologique and Organic wines (and spirits and food) from sustainable culture and respect the environment! Support the right causes for the Planet and all the people suffering all around the globe! Also follow projects and products from the Fair Trade, an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries obtain better trading conditions and promote sustainability. Also support 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses that donate at least 1% of their annual revenues to environmental organizations worldwide.

Amarone and 2001 Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella "Vigneto Ca' Florian" Veneto Italy

Amarone and 2001 Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella "Vigneto Ca'Florian" Veneto Italy

A rich, dry, complex still red wine from the Veneto region in northern Italy, Amarone is usually produced from 3-4 indigenous grapes (mainly Corvina Veronese blended with Corvivone, Rondinella and Molinara) cultivated high on its hillside terraces in the historical Valpolicella Classica zone, using the traditional "pergola veronese" method of vine training.

Only the best and most mature clusters are selected for the production of Amarone, the other grapes may be used to produce Valpolicella and Ripasso wines.

Once carefully selected and harvested usually during the first two week of October, the grapes are placed directly onto small open racks and brought to the open sided building where they are dried by the cool breezes of late autumn and winter. The harvested bunches preferably have fruits not too close to each other, to let the air flow, which will be important for the drying period. Grapes are then allowed to dry, traditionally on straw mats. This process is called “appassimento” or “rasinate” (to dry and shrivel or “raisinate”) in Italian.

In order to produce Amarone, the work of ageing and drying the grapes is not completed at the time of harvest but continues through the winter months until February. During these months the grapes are reduced in a period of "active lethargy". Also during this period, changes (that take place within the drying grapes) enrich them, giving them new aromas, deeper flavors and increasing the sugar ratio due to evaporation.

In managing the drying and vinification process, it is essential for the winemakers (in the case of Tommasi: Mr. Dario and Giancarlo Tommasi) to have a clear idea in mind of the style of wine they seek to create.

Although, consistency of the taste and style is very important for a winery and more importantly for its winemaker, the vintage is also an influential factor that will also impart the final taste of the wine, in a bad way or in a good way. More especially in Europe where there are more restrictions regarding vineyard’s management and vinification methods than in most new world wine regions, obliging the winemakers of the old world to be more careful to climate, micro-climate, sun exposition, weather hazards, chemical products used and other things like chaptalisation and acidification (or de-acidification, etc...), due to less possibilities and opportunities of manually, artificially or mechanically rectifying the wine in bad or mediocre vintage.

Following drying, by the end of January - beginning of February, the grapes are crushed and go through a dry low temperature fermentation process which can last up to 30-50 days. The reduced water content of the grapes can slow down the fermentation process, increasing the risk of spoilage and potential wine faults. New drying techniques done in special rooms (or chambers with temperature controlled conditions) have decreased some these risks. After fermentation, the wine is then aged in barrels made from French, Slovenian or Slavonian oak.




2001 Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella "Vigneto Ca' Florian" Veneto Italy
Suggested retail price $65-$72
Imported/Distributed by Monsieur Touton in NYC

"Ca' Florian" is a small terraced vineyard on a slope particularly well suited for growing grapes, with great sun exposure, where the vines are maintain from falling by hand erected traditional “marogne” or low natural stone walls. This Tommasi family vineyard produces Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes of exceptional quality for the production of an exceptional Amarone.

From the acclaimed 2001 vintage, Tommasi Amarone "Ca' Florian"was produced from approximately 70% Corvina Veronese, 25% Rondinella and 5% Molinara . It underwent a period of aging of 2.5 years in Slavonian oak barrels of 35 hectoliters and an additional 6 months in "Tonneau" barrels of 500 liters, before being placed in bottles for a further period of aging of at least another year.

Behind the garnet color with slight brick reflects and good intensity, the nose is expressive, earthy and ripe, quite intense and inviting. The palate is quite rich, complex, smooth, rather full bodied and characteristic of great Amarone with dark, earthy fruit, chocolate, raisin and terroir oriented nuances. The lingering finish still has great tannin structure and depth suggesting very good ageing potential. A decantation is recommended to fully appreciate this wine. Pair it with red meat, game, mature cheeses.

Enjoy!

LeDom du Vin

Info partly taken and edited from Tommasi website at www.tommasiwine.it

Step into the Green! Drink more Biodynamic and Organic wine (and food) from sustainable culture and respect the environment! Support the right causes for the Planet and all the people suffering all around the globe!

2007 Marcato La Giareta Rosso Veneto Italy

Marcato "La Giareta" Rosso Veneto Italy

Although Veneto, in northeastern part of Italy, is reputed for its bold, earthy reds like Valpolicella and Amarone made with the Corvina grape around Verona, the Venetian wine region also offers great whites with the sparkling Prosecco(s) and Trebbiano and Garganega which produces one of Italy's most popular white wines called Soave.

However, many wineries, like Marcato, are also growing international grape varieties atop of the local grapes. La Giareta rosso is a great example of the tremendous potential of wine diversity that Veneto has to offer despite its more acclaimed wines.


2007 Marcato La Giareta Rosso Veneto Italy
Suggested retail price $11-$13
Imported by Vintners Estates (in California)

100% Cabernet Franc from La Giareta estate, this approachable and refreshing red offers fruity cherry aromas with a rounded slight touch of oak. After alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel tank, it was aged in oak for 10 months. Clean fruit flavors explode on the mid-palate, supported by silky tannins and bright acidity into a nice, inviting cherry finish.

A versatile, crisp and friendly red wine, it will pair well with everything from chicken to lighter meats to creamy cheeses.

Enjoy!

LeDom du Vin

More info about the winery at www.marcatovini.it

Step into the Green! Drink more Biodynamic and Organic wine (and food) from sustainable culture and respect the environment! Support the right causes for the Planet and all the people suffering all around the globe!

2006 Latium Morini "Campo Prognai" Valpolicella Veneto Italy

2006 Latium Morini "Campo Prognai" Valpolicella Superiore Veneto Italy
Suggested retail price $21-$24
Distributed by Jan d'Amore in NYC


In the year 2000 the seven Morini cousins decided to join forces and start vinifying the grapes from the vineyards that belonged to their fathers for more than 40 years. The name of the estate originates from the Latin name of their home town, Illasi: the Roman troops on their way to conquer the northern “barbaric” regions founded villages in the sheltered valleys of the Valpolicella and planted vines and olive trees. Latium released the first Amarone in 2007 a wine that embodies the style of the estate: fruit driven, lush and rich and yet retaining great elegance and drinkability.

Made from 70% Corvina and Corvinone, 20% Rondinella,10% Croatina and Oseleta, this wine is an authentic example of a great, earthy and slightly rustic yet rich and fruity Valpolicella. Crafted in a (somewhat) Ripasso style, 40% of the grapes underwent a 30 days drying period before a short Crio-maceration (after de-stemming, the grapes are cold macerated on the skins for about 10 to 12 hours) followed by a 12 days fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The maturation occurred in Slavonian oak tonneaux (big barrels) for 15 months. 10,000 bottles were produced.

The robe is quite dark ruby red. The nose expresses aromas of earthy, very ripe to almost sweet, dark and blue berry with (somewhat) animal and forest nuances. The palate is quite nice, easy, soft, rich and very fruity with a lovely texture and excellent mouth-feel. The finish add an extra dimension with a touch of earth, notes of scorched dirt and hints of spice.

Overall, it was a pleasant surprise for a Wine Buyer like me who is not really a big fan of Veneto's reds like Valpolicella and Amarone. I've found it very good and pretty enjoyable for a wine at 14.5% of alcohol, even if I normally do not like to go over 13.5%.

However, as I often say: "Every wine deserves to be tasted, even if not every wine should be drunk! But you can't say that you don't like it, if you didn't try it. And you can't say that you don't like certain wines made with this grape variety or from this particular region, because you'll never know what you might discover or how a wine could surprise you, until you've tried it!" LeDom du Vin

One needs to remain open minded with everything and especially with wines and food, because you may not like a certain type of wine (or dish) one day, but discover a very similar wine (or dish) crafted by another producer (or a chef) the next day and really enjoy it....and that goes for everything.

Enjoy!

LeDom du Vin

Info partly taken from Jan d'Amore website at www.jandamorewines.com

Step into the Green! Drink more Bio and Organic wines from sustainable culture and respect the environment!